From 1990-2014, there were about 230,676 reported injuries arising from baby walker related usage. A whopping 74% were from babies in walkers falling down stairs and injuring themselves. One inescapable conclusion is that a major hazard of baby walkers is the possibility of a user, i.e., a baby or toddler learning to walk, approaching and going down stairs.
Since 2014, this hazard has been reduced, for example, as a result of the elimination of wheels from some walker and constructing alternative walking learning devices to be immobile (rendering them non-walkers of sorts) or widening the walkers so they are prevented from passing through the width of doors or staircases. Still, over 2,000 baby walker related injuries are reported annually. To this inventor, that's an unfortunate 2,000 more baby walker related injuries than should be tolerated.
According to an article in the American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention, entitled, Injuries Associated With Infant Walkers, Pediatrics 2001; 108; 790, in 1999, an estimated 8800 children younger than 15 months were treated in hospital emergency departments in the United States for injuries associated with infant walkers. Thirty-four infant walker-related deaths were reported from 1973 through 1998. The vast majority of injuries occur from falls down stairs, and head injuries are common. The use of warning labels, public education, adult supervision during walker use, and stair gates have all been demonstrated to be insufficient strategies to prevent injuries associated with infant walkers.
To comply with the revised voluntary standard (ASTM F977-96), walkers manufactured after Jun. 30, 1997, must be wider than a 36-in doorway or must have a braking mechanism designed to stop the walker if one or more wheels drop off the riding surface, such as at the top of a stairway. This standard is voluntary and often not followed since most walkers are ideally less than 36 inches wide. A walker wider than 36 inches is simply overly large.
Because data indicate a considerable risk of major and minor injury and even death from the use of infant walkers, and because there is no clear benefit from their use, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a ban on the manufacture and sale of mobile infant walkers. If a parent insists on using a mobile infant walker, it is vital that they choose a walker that meets the performance standards of ASTM F977-96 to prevent falls down stairs.
A web article in Health, dated Sep. 26, 2018 by Carolyn L. Todd, entitled “Baby Walkers Cause Thousands of ER Visits Every Year, Experts Warn”, also discusses this issue and refers to the American Academy of Pediatrics study.
As used in the field to which this invention pertains, a baby walker is a device that seats or supports an infant, a child learning to walk or a toddler (hereinafter referred to as a toddler) into a central area suspended from a platform having a tray whereby the height of the platform is adjustable so that the toddler, whose has yet to learn to walk, has his or her feet reach the floor and just touch the floor. One common embodiment has four casters on a base that supports the platform and which casters engage with the floor to enable the toddler to move freely around the floor of the given environment, e.g., a room. Other walkers have more than four casters. Some walkers have two rotatable casters in the front of the base with two fixed trailing casters in the rear of the base. Others may have rotatable casters on all four sides of the base or distributed equiangularly around a circular base. The toddler can move freely once they are familiar with the walker. An unfortunate result of such construction is that there is almost no limit to where the toddler may go once they master the manner for moving the walker, other than the restrictions and limits of their environment.
Walkers of such types on the market include the Baby Einstein Caterpillar & Friends Discovery Walker, the Safety 1st Ready, Set, Walk! walker, and the Chicco Walky Talky Baby Walker. Each of these walkers, as well as other walkers on the market, does not have a built-in mechanism to control where a toddler may walk, or other limitation on the movement of the walker. Moving at a rate of about four feet per second, a toddler using a walker can move quickly into a potentially injurious situation.
It is therefore advisable that a parent or caregiver be extremely vigilant while a toddler is using a baby walker so as to avoid toddlers from moving out of sight or heading to what might be a dangerous situation (down a staircase, into a step, against a hot stove, etc.). In a fleeting second, serious injury can occur in the absence of adult oversight. Indeed, annually, thousands of reported injuries are caused by these baby walkers and some range from minor to serious-even fatal injuries.